Chapter 5: Growing Your Social Media

Now that you’ve got an aesthetic page with your brand and target audience down, it’s time to cast a wide net and gain as much exposure as possible. So what can you do to get your pics out there on more? Explore pages and feeds so the right people can find and follow you?

Here are some tips and strategies that go beyond your photos and captions, so have a compelling backstory and impressive bio ready!

1. Instagram Giveaways 

When you’re just starting, it can be very challenging to grow an Instagram account. Not to mention, with the current Instagram algorithm, it’s near impossible to grow organically.  

Group giveaways allow you to build a small following first to help launch your Instagram. You can also participate in giveaways as a seasoned influencer to give your account a little boost. Although, here are a few things to consider and watch out for when participating in giveaways:

1. It would be best if you didn’t wholly rely on giveaways to grow your following. 

2. Watch out for the demographic and location of the giveaway participants. It’s important to build a strong audience base from your country because more and more brands look for sales conversion than brand awareness. 

Reach out to us, and we can help connect with some fantastic giveaway services. 

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2. Collaborate with your fellow influencers 

We’ve discovered plenty of influencers by seeing them (positively) featured on the pages of influencers we’re already following. Collaborating with influencers in your niche allows you to gain exposure from their audience. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your fellow influencers for fun collabs. 

Just make sure that the partnership is mutually beneficial. 

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3. Participate on a podcast.

Do you have a lot of unique insights on an important topic you’d like to share? Podcasts are a popular way to get exposure for reasons beyond being ridiculously good looking. Most podcasts last about 1-3 hours with discussions that range from lighthearted conversation to analyzing deep, often emotional topics.

Look through your network for anyone that’s hosting a podcast that talks about topics you’d enjoy talking about. Let them know you’d like to be featured and present what topics you’d like to discuss.

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4. Get interviewed by a magazine. 

If you have a unique platform, such as cooking up healthier versions of common comfort foods, you’d be a great fit to be featured in a magazine article.   

Don’t worry; you don’t need to hit it big for this! Before you reach out to Vogue, try smaller local magazines that focus on small businesses and exploring inspiring stories such as Voyage LA. These magazines often feature indie brands and smaller, upcoming creators making a positive impact on their communities and the world. 

Think of yourself as a business, even if you don’t have a formal business license. Write out your story of why you decided to become an influencer, what your goals are, and what positive impact you aspire to make. Magazines often look for inspirational stories that stand out from the crowd and seek to make a statement.  

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5. Be more involved in your community, digitally.

An organic way to softly promote yourself is to be more involved in your digital community and list your social media as your preferred mode of contact. Post in Facebook groups, write guest blogs, and comment on other Instagram posts.

Of course, these postings shouldn’t be explicitly telling viewers to click on your profile. They should be authentic, informative, well-written responses to the topic you’re responding to. Your goal is to be noticed by providing value, whether it’s an insightful perspective or a funny joke. Start and/or participate in discussions on topics that are important to you and your brand. 

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6. Hire a publicist.

If you’ve got the $$, you can hire a publicist to help you with much of the above. A publicist can help you amp up your exposure by securing brand deals, podcast spots, and interviews

7. Land brand deals. 

Brands often feature their influencers on their page, so this would help put you in the spotlight. 

Landing brand deals is a vital part of an influencer’s journey, so we’ll be dedicating an entire post to that. Sign up for our mailing list and stay tuned!

XOXO,

Irose

Chapter 3: Defining Your Audience

An engaged audience is critical to a thriving influencer business. Think of it this way: your page isn’t just a stage for your performance; you’re also forming a community.

Defining your target audience helps you create content to not only attract your ideal followers but also serve their needs, therefore creating value that keeps them engaged. It’ll help you create a consistent theme for your page that quickly communicates your brand, making it easier for new visitors to decide whether to click that subscribe button or not.

Who are you reaching out to?

To define your target audience, think about who’d enjoy your content and who you’d like to interact with regularly. This community should be one you authentically fit in with and want to help. 

For example, a food influencer specializing in a diverse, colorful variety of healthy dishes may set a broader category of “healthy food lovers.” That’s a lot of people spanning a wide range of demographics and psychographics! 

Let’s zoom into groups within that category. If most of your dishes are quick to prepare, you should consider targeting “people who like healthy food but don’t have a lot of time to cook.” 

Where are these people located? If your ingredients come from every corner of the world, your audience will generally be living in more multicultural, urban cities where they’re likely to have access to exotic ingredients.

If you’re looking to target an international audience, you might want to use easily accessible and common ingredients and write your captions in multiple languages. If you think a chunk of your audience may have particular food preferences such as being vegan, remember to create content tailored to their needs.

Now let's talk about the psychographics: Psychographics are the personal characteristics of your audience. They include the interests and challenges your community faces. 

People who are interested in healthy eating are also typically interested in exercise and other ways to stay healthy, so occasionally posting a video of you doing 25 push-ups with a dog on your back won't be too off-brand. People interested in diverse entrees may be interested in the history behind them, so your kheer (Indian rice pudding) recipe could briefly summarize the ancient history behind the 1500-year-old dish.

You see how defining your audience can help you refine your content, inspire new content, and therefore help define your overall brand?

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What do they want? How do they want it?

Now that you’ve defined your target audience (urban, cultured, healthy, and busy in this example), you need to understand them beyond your assumptions. Research to make sure you’ve got all the smaller details covered. 

A great way to do so is through social listening. Look at accounts, both influencers, and brands, who seem to cater to similar audiences. What are they looking for that they aren’t getting from these accounts? What are their motivations and aspirations? What requests are they making, and what criticisms do they have? What are their pain points? 

Seeing what delights your target audience and what irritates them will help you gain insight on creating valuable content. 

Do you see how understanding your audience can help you build a strong and loyal community? You'll have a better understanding of how to refine your messages to best resonate with them without changing their initial meanings. 

If you need any help with this, don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@irosesocial.com! We'll schedule a complimentary consultation to help you reach your social media business goals together and land the brand deals of your dreams!

Images by our in-house photographer Sharon

xoxo,

Irose